Russia plans to send missiles to Syria, day after EU lifts its arms embargo for Syrian rebels

Syria: Russia plans to send missiles

BRUSSELS — A day after the European Union agreed to lift its arms embargo for Syrian rebels, Russia confirmed Tuesday it was giving the Syrian government more high-powered missiles – raising the prospect of a new foreign-fed arms race in the Middle East.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the missiles could be “stabilizing factor” that could dissuade “some hotheads” from entering the region, the BBC reports.

The public brinkmanship comes as Russia and the U.S. are trying to bring both sides in Syria to Geneva for talks on ending the country’s devastating 2-year civil war.

The Geneva talks next month, mediated by the U.S. and Russia, offer what Western diplomats say is the best – if still very tenuous – chance to end the bloodshed that is increasingly threatening to embroil Syria’s Mideast neighbors.

Syria’s civil war has already claimed over 70,000 lives and prompted hundreds of thousands to flee the country.

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In Moscow, Russian officials lambasted the EU move – which was rammed through a divided EU foreign ministers meeting late Monday by Britain and France – saying that it undermines the U.S. and Russian peace efforts. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov also said Russia could provide Assad’s regime with state-of-the art air defense missiles to prevent foreign intervention in the country, though he didn’t say whether any of the long-range S-300 air defense missile systems had been shipped already to President Bashar Assad’s regime.

Ryabkov called the EU move “a manifestation of double standards” that will hurt the prospects for the Geneva talks. Russia has been a key ally of the Syrian regime, protecting it from U.N. sanctions and providing it with weapons despite criticism from other nations.

Monday’s EU agreement lifts a self-imposed embargo on weapons deliveries into Syria – notably equipment that could at least partially help the outgunned rebel fighters hold their own against Syria’s massive, Russian-backed firepower. EU diplomats said Britain and France were the only two member states considering such deliveries.

Sen. John McCain, meanwhile, made an unannounced visit to rebel forces in Syria, putting more pressure on Assad to seek a negotiated settlement.

In Damascus, a Syrian lawmaker on Tuesday criticized the EU decision, saying that efforts to arm the rebels will discourage the opposition from seeking a peaceful solution to the conflict.

The comments by Essam Khalil, a member of the parliament for the ruling Baath Party, were the first by a Syrian official.